bdgiantman2

The construction of a height adjustable workbench for 45 euros.

 
 

Had the guys over to the shop.  Tale of two Winnies.  One is mine and the other is Mikes (stuntflyer).
 

Congrats on the finished project of Winnie, Mr. Passaro! Your model has come out fantastically and this blog has been a privilege to follow and learn from. Thank you also for putting up with my questions and comments on your forum. This is a real masterpiece. Looking forward to your next group project on here.

Congrats on the finished project of Winnie, Mr. Passaro! Your model has come out fantastically and this blog has been a privilege to follow and learn from. Thank you also for putting up with my questions and comments on your forum. This is a real masterpiece. Looking forward to your next group project on here.

Congrats on the finished project of Winnie, Mr. Passaro! Your model has come out fantastically and this blog has been a privilege to follow and learn from. Thank you also for putting up with my questions and comments on your forum. This is a real masterpiece. Looking forward to your next group project on here.

Congrats on the finished project of Winnie, Mr. Passaro! Your model has come out fantastically and this blog has been a privilege to follow and learn from. Thank you also for putting up with my questions and comments on your forum. This is a real masterpiece. Looking forward to your next group project on here.

Hello colleagues,
I am very pleased that despite a long break there is still interest in the progress of my model.
A hearty thank you for it.
Completion: Standing rigging for jib and outer jib boom - Bâton de foc et bâton de clinfoc
After the final work on the standing rigging for the jib boom and the outer jib boom, I can also finish this chapter. So the standing rigging for the French corvette is finished except for a few minor details.
Accordingly, here are a few pictures that give an overview of the bowsprit rigging.


 




 
 
Soon I will dedicate myself to the production of the yards. So I am looking forward to work more intensively with wood again.
To be continued ...
 

First it was Mr. Passaro, now there's at least three others since who have had mini's of themselves inspecting the ship models.

The mini-me imitators are hilarious and thriving well. 

Shingles, Friezes, and Moldings
 
This title sounds like a 80’s rock band or a law firm specializing in medical malpractice. It isn’t, it is about my hull becoming all fancy.
 
It’s been a minute since my last post. My wife and I took an Alaskan cruise, it was a great adventure filled with good weather, good food and drink, and fun adventures - time well spent with my best friend of 46 years. Finally back to Winchelsea I turned my attention to the hull sides and its combination of quarter gallery, friezes, and multiple moulding strips.

One little shingle, two little shingles, three little shingles… The quarter gallery roof is a fun little mini-project. I had earlier shaped and sanded down the roof block to match my galleries. It takes a little work to mirror the two as close as possible with two angles and the curve at play, the etched line on the top helps. Then the shingles; first I sanded them down to near 1/64th while still in the sheet, from there installed the first row using PVA (see I don’t always use CA). There are options in deciding the spacing, I preferred them in tight minimizing the gap. My roofer friends would approve I think.
 
Once dried I sanded them (as Chuck suggests) even more thin with 320 and 400 soft sanding sticks, particularly on the top, before laying the next row. They actually look pretty nice left bright.

I elected to paint them with Admiralty Paints Ironwood Black, as I noted earlier though meant for iron works it’s a nice matte black, and the same paint used on the wales. Though it may be a bit hard to tell in the photograph, the right one is weathered, the left still in the matte black base. I weathered them using Doc O-Brien’s Grungy Gray weathering powder. I really like the 4 brush set (from Micromark) for application, I use them all, the smallest to apply, the round to remove excess, the (actually in back in the photo) the third to feather it and finally the larger brush to buff. I think it makes for a nice look, the shingles now appear to be gray slate (in my humble opinion). I’m going to experiment with some form of fixative, but multiple tests before I try it on the roof. Any suggestions that doesn't make them shiny appreciated.

With that the gallery is complete, except the very detailed railing on top which I’ll save until later when I’m less likely to break it off. Neither the roof or the nice lady on the side are glued in place as yet.

A pause for a maintenance break, replacing the 320 grit sandpaper and cleaning my ever faithful Byrnes Sander. I use Denatured Alcohol to clean the aluminum tables and mitre gauge, also to remove any residual adhesive from the front of the wheel.  I was surprised how well GlideCote (which I learned from Jim Byrnes) works. Making the table more like a sheet of smooth ice, the wood glides easily and consequently is easier to manage. This plays a bigger role on the saw and thickness sander, it’s still handy here as well.

After installing the first more narrow middle moulding I decided I didn’t like the look. So, like I do, I removed it and made a new moulding.
 
The top moulding is laser etched. All the moulding is attached with CA except the volutes.  They are also laser etched, I needed time to get them positioned so used PVA. I also broke two sanding them, @Chuck was kind enough to provide replacements, I then decided they looked really great not sanded…..
 
Then it was on to more life lessons of paper glued on wood. I mentioned in the last post my initial reservations on using printed paper and how wrong I was. It is easy to apply and looks great. I print them with highest quality on my Epson ink jet printer then spray them with Winsor & Newton Fixative. Once dry I outsource them to my much more talented wife to cut out. With the need to always align at least one edge directly up against (and not under) wood moulding, having a clean cut line is imperative, she’s far better at that than me.
 
The frieze was relatively easy to cut out  from the ports with my Swann-Morton #11 scalpel - though I started with a fresh blade. The key is to first let the glue stick adhesive thoroughly dry so its rock hard.

Having intentionally covered the fixed blocks I located them by drilling from inside, slowly, through the holes made back when they were installed. I threaded some nice Syren Rope through both holes from the outside and pulled it back and forth from the inside to restore the grove making it a block once again. A sharpened #2 pencil completes the look.
 

A dilemma. The upper stern hull frieze did not fully cover the area above the roof for my model.


The solution was easy, once I thought of it, print out that same frieze at 150%, cut between the solid blue and the frieze, match the seams when glued on the model. It worked out great.

For me the proper line from the forecastle volute to the stem did not follow the planking as it does from the volute to the stern. I spent time with the plans and came up with a couple of jigs to get the correct spacing for the run of the moulding. (it is not coverging at the stem, just the aspect angle of the photography).


I’ve been clear in my posts that all of my work is perfect, I never do anything wrong, nor ever need to fix anything…NOT! Lesson learned in my new paper world. As shown in the previous moulding its been my practice to have a continuous run of moulding over ports. I’m confident of my skills to then free the ports with my Excel #11 blades. Paper, unlike wood, is very unforgiving, a small mistake results in the paper tearing. It initially was a tiny tear but I couldn’t just leave it. Once the moulding was removed, it didn’t matter, I was removing and replacing the frieze. As Rusty noted in a recent post I could have just showed the finished work and pretend it never happened, I prefer to share what went wrong as well as what goes right.
 
Though it took time there is no harm no foul. As Chuck points out on his model, it is difficult to find any seams once the pattern is matched and new frieze section glued in.

Having tossed my continuous run approach I switched to cutting the lower moulding section by section, matched up the width with the gentle use of my freshly maintained Byrnes Sander, then glued it in place. I cut a spacer clamped up tight to the upper moulding to keep an even line though all the sections.
 
With that a few photos of the finished side. Though a semi-professional photographer I just use my iPhone for all my build photos. An as all seasoned photographers know a badly wrinkled piece of material is a proper backdrop. Not true, I just didn’t feel like ironing it. While the iPhone does nice work, it does tend to squeeze curves and warp aspect a bit. So things are actually straighter, or curvier, than they seem. Also I removed the tape, but not the residue, from the stem.





Now all I have to do is turn the ship around and do it all again on the port side. As always, thank you for your likes and especially your comments. I hope I’ve provided a bit of entertainment for your day.

Wonderful craftsmanship, Brian.   This beast deserves to be in a museum.

No dont do that!!!   Its the fantastic scratch work I see done by folks like yourself that inspires me to kick it up a notch.   The Winnie project would not exist had it not been for all those inspiring scratch projects.
 
Cheers!!!
 
 

I've moved on to the cap rail and margin planks for the fcastle. 
 
As it has been mentioned Chucks suggests we print out the bow cap rail templates from Chapter ten and match your bow. This definitely will be a benefit when you get to this part of the build. I know now from my experiences. Nothing bad I just had to do a little "adjusting".
 
At the bow the laser cut cap rail on the port side fit well. On the starboard side my curve was a little sharper that the plans called for. With the precut spots for the timber head's, I couldn't just heat and bend it. So, I cut a new section with the curve to match my bulkhead. I was careful to use the precut upper portion of the cap rail to ensure the cutouts for the timberheads were in the correct spots. You can see from the below picture the slight difference. Not much but sometimes a little if just too much. 
 

 
Then I completed the rest of the cap rail and started on the margin planks.
 

 
This led to minor issue #2. The forward most margin plank template did not fit as it should. Again, my curvature was slightly off. So instead of bending the plank to fit I adjusted my planks to my curvature. I wanted to keep the inner curve the same because if I didn't it would have thrown of the rest of the planks. Below you can see the template and the extra wood on the outside of the curve.
 

 
Now that I had a plank that fit to the bulkheads, I could finish sanding the inside curve and plank the rest of the deck without issue.
 


 
I could have done these "adjustments" and not fessed up but I wanted to show how such little differences can cause issues later on. The more attention paid early on pays off tremendously later on.
 
Now you sharp eyed people surely noticed in the first few pictures the chimney was attached to the ships stove. Then heavy hands popped it off while planking. So, the chimney is now safely stowed until more planking is finished and it needs to be reattached. Otherwise, I see it going for a ride several more times!

start of the galley stove construction:

The gratings:

 

 
I have taken a little liberty in interpreting the fore hatch gratings as far as the passage of the elbows is concerned. I was inspired by the work done by Matiz on his Euryalus, although perhaps the eras are slightly different.





 

Hi, another pictures:
 
 

Wow!!!!
I can't believe it's been since June that I updated my build. Wow! Shame on me!
I have been building but limited during the summer. Too much summertime fun to be had!
One trip was to the top of Mt Washington in New Hampshire. Sad to say, as a true Northeast boy, I had never been to the top.
We remedied that. Wonderful day, awesome views. 

Below is what's called Tuckermans Ravine.
People ski down this thing in the winter!!!! No lift service, so they have to hike up, then ski down.
Extreme skiing.

Below is Wildcat Mt. I've skied there before. The views in winter are incredible! 

Even the parking lot has great views!!!
Thats my little Subaru in the center pointing out.

With the cool fall winds, football on TV, Red Sox out of the playoffs....
It's my favorite time to build!
Should have an update on Niagara soon.
 
Tom E 
 
 
 

Nicely made Brodie stove. Wish I could get a copy  of this design.  Great job on this model ship.
 
Brian

Hello my friends, I have a question for you as I attempt to slowly continue. I know that this is my model, but I just want to see what you all suggest.
 
In the enclosed picture, you see a close-up of Eagle's keel and the start of her keelson. My question involves the first piece of the keelson. Currently this piece is cut from Boxwood, I will have to re-cut it either way to get the correct shape as well as sand down the outer pieces. I am debating making the keelson out of Yellow Alaskan Cedar like the ribs will be.

Thanks for the reply, Chuck! I hope that you are doing well buddy.
 
The temps in Denver today is supposed to be 98 degrees, so not that much cooler. We could actually set a new record today weather-wise. As you know, my parent's house is not far at all from Santee, I used to overlook Santee attending Grossmont College for years. 
 
The keel pieces I have made and used thus far are all made out of Boxwood. I am debating about staining the wood making up the actual keel. Bill Edgar, the guy I am trying to follow in construction style, stained his keel for sure. But I also really like the colors that Chuck Passaro's Winnie model has turned using Wipe-on-Poly. I am highly unlikely to apply any paint itself on this model other than painting the wales black and red around the perimeter of gun ports, although I have humorously considered painting head of capstan when I get to that step. 

Hello my friends, I have a question for you as I attempt to slowly continue. I know that this is my model, but I just want to see what you all suggest.
 
In the enclosed picture, you see a close-up of Eagle's keel and the start of her keelson. My question involves the first piece of the keelson. Currently this piece is cut from Boxwood, I will have to re-cut it either way to get the correct shape as well as sand down the outer pieces. I am debating making the keelson out of Yellow Alaskan Cedar like the ribs will be.

Hello my friends, I have a question for you as I attempt to slowly continue. I know that this is my model, but I just want to see what you all suggest.
 
In the enclosed picture, you see a close-up of Eagle's keel and the start of her keelson. My question involves the first piece of the keelson. Currently this piece is cut from Boxwood, I will have to re-cut it either way to get the correct shape as well as sand down the outer pieces. I am debating making the keelson out of Yellow Alaskan Cedar like the ribs will be.

Finally I have a little update about Eagle.  Feels good to be making sawdust again. I have had to remake part of the stem of Eagle. Should have left the original alone, sigh. Also am starting to tackle making some of the bow and hawse timers for Eagle, been doing a lot of research on here about how you guys make these pieces.  I didn't take any new pictures of this part but am also making some more stern timbers. 

Hello my friends, I have a question for you as I attempt to slowly continue. I know that this is my model, but I just want to see what you all suggest.
 
In the enclosed picture, you see a close-up of Eagle's keel and the start of her keelson. My question involves the first piece of the keelson. Currently this piece is cut from Boxwood, I will have to re-cut it either way to get the correct shape as well as sand down the outer pieces. I am debating making the keelson out of Yellow Alaskan Cedar like the ribs will be.

After looking at other models for ships this size, I decided to secure the lower shank with the shank painter.  As druxey suggested, one end is attached to a ringbolt inside the bulwark and the free end terminates in a hook which is secured in a second ringbolt. The upper part of the shaft and the ring were tied off to timberheads.  I have added a block of wood on the rail under the anchor to protect the rail from damage.